Category Archives: Writers Series

Natalie Serber is Featured Author for Manzanita Writers’ Series May 18

natalieauthor (2)Natalie Serber will read from her book Shout Her Lovely Name at the Hoffman Center at 7pm on Saturday, May 18, 2013.

In Shout Her Lovely Name, mothers and daughters ride the familial tide of joy, pride, regret, loathing, and love in these stories of resilient and flawed women. Emotionally generous, achingly real and beautifully written, these unforgettable stories lay bare the connection and conflict in families.

Serber has her MFA in fiction, has been awarded the John Steinbeck Award, Tobias Wolff Award, and H.E. Francis Award, and was short listed in Best American Short Stories. She’s been published in The Bellingham Review, Inkwell Magazine, Third Coast, Fourth Genre, and Hunger.

“Shout Her Lovely Name joins the ranks of the finest books ever to address relations between daughters and their mothers – equal parts love and sandpaper. — Robin Black, author of If I Loved You I Could Tell You This

Shout her Lovely Name is not only beautifully written, it absolutely sizzles with the electric shocks of family life, no matter whose family and what their circumstances. — Huffington Post

Take my word: Shout Her Lovely Name will reach inside readers, and squeeze. On second thought, don’t take my word. Read these lovely stories. — San Francisco Chronicle

Following Serber’s reading and Q&A, we’ll have our popular Open Mic where up to nine local writers will read 5 minutes of their original work.

Admission for the evening is $7.

More Poetry on April 7 at Bay City Arts Center

beach and bay poetry picCome celebrate poetry on Sunday, with our Beach and Bay Poetry Weekend partners at the Bay City Arts Center.  Prizes, Poetry, and Eats!

A by-donation lunch starts at 12:00 noon. All poets, student poets, wannabe poets, and those who think they don’t “get” poetry are encouraged to attend this community celebration of the oldest written form.  Nancy Slavin, local writer and poet, will host the event, which also will include brief writing prompts for the launching of new poems.  Door prizes and copious applause will be given to those who read their new work at the Open Mic.   For more information, email Nancy at nancyslavin@mail.tillamookbay.cc or call the Bay City Arts Center at 503 377 9620.  The Arts Center is located on the corner of 5th and A Streets in Bay City.

If you’re on Facebook, check out the event page here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/420545581365585/

Poetry Workshops (Nearly) Full; Reading Open to the Public

beach and bay header

It’s true that the early bird gets the worm, because the Re-Vision workshop with John Morrison is full, and the morning session with Stephanie Lenox has just one more spot open.  Click on the post below to find out more about Stephanie’s session.

http://hoffmanblog.org/http:/hoffmanblog.org/register-now-for-beach-and-bay-poetry-weekend-workshops

Even if you’re not participating in a workshop, be sure to join us at 3:30 pm, when Stephanie and John will read some of their work.  Plus, there will be a community Open Mic, where anyone can read for 5 minutes from their original work.  See you there!

Admission for people not attending the workshops is $7 for the reading.

Manzanita Writers’ Series features Jim Lynch on April 20th

Jim Lynch (credit Grace Lynch)Jim Lynch will read from his latest book Truth Like the Sun at the Hoffman Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 20, 2013.

A classic and hugely entertaining political novel, Truth Like the Sun is the cat-and-mouse story of urban intrigue in Seattle both in 1962, when Seattle hosted the World’s Fair, and in 2001, after its transformation in the Microsoft gold rush.

The New York Times has called Jim Lynch “a gifted and original novelist.” He is the author of three novels set in Western Washington. His first novel, The Highest Tide (2005), won the Pacific Northwest Bookseller Award, was performed on stage in Seattle and became an international bestseller. His second novel, Border Songs (2009), was also adapted to the stage and won the Washington State Book Award as well as the Indie’s Choice Honor Book Award. The film rights have been sold for The Highest Tide and TV rights for Border Songs.

Reviews of his latest book:

“It is impossible not to hurtle through Truth Like the Sun … This book is enveloping and propulsive.”– Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“Jim Lynch’s addictive new novel is a tale of two cities, both of them Seattle. … Roger (Morgan), both young and old, takes hold of the book from its opening pages.” — The Seattle Times

“A dazzling new novel … Lynch is masterful in contrasting this tale of the same city in two different eras.” — Barbara McMichael (The Bookmonger)

Following Lynch’s reading and Q&A, we’ll have our popular Open Mic where up to nine local writers will read 5 minutes of their original work.

Admission for the evening is $7.

The evening reading is a program of the Hoffman Center and will be held at the Hoffman Center (across from Manzanita Library at 594 Laneda Avenue.)

Register Now for Beach and Bay Poetry Weekend Workshops

beach and bay headerIn honor of National Poetry Month the Manzanita Writers’ Series and Bay City Arts Center present a weekend dedicated to the joys of poetry. Beach and Bay Poetry Weekend will take place April 6 and 7, 2013.

Two workshops and a public poetry reading will take place at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita on Saturday, April 6. Cost is $30 per workshop or $50 for both.

In the morning from 10 a.m. to noon, poet Stephanie Lenox will present “Other Shoes,” a workshop to help you learn to embody the voices of your characters. This workshop is for poets of all levels, as well as fiction writers interested in developing authentic characters through poetic experimentation. Learn to see the world from a different perspective in this dynamic workshop that will explore the use of characters and encourage playful impersonations through guided exercises and writing prompts.

Stephanie Lenox’s chapbook, The Heart That Lies Outside the Body, won the 2007 Slapering Hol Chapbook Contest. She received fellowships from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the Oregon Arts Commission and recently published a full-length collection of poetry, Congress of Strange People.

From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., poet John Morrison will present the workshop “Re-Vision,” geared to the practicing poet. Learn how to take a shimmering first draft, or a cranky problem child, to a deeper level. You’ll study and apply both radical and pragmatic principles of Re-Vision to see your work in a fresh way and follow your drafts to new discoveries. Bring a draft that’s stuck who knows where, a finished poem that may yet have another life, and a notebook and pen.

John Morrison has taught poetry for the University of Alabama, Washington State University, and the Literary Arts Writers in the Schools program. His book, Heaven of the Moment, was a finalist for the 2008 Oregon Book Award in poetry.

At 3:30, Lenox and Morrison will read from their own poetry, followed by a Community Open Mic. The event is free to workshop participants and $7 to non-workshop attendees.

On Sunday, April 7 the Bay City Arts Center will host a Scrumptious Lunch and Poetry Open Mic, with the by-donation lunch starting at 12:00 noon. All poets, student poets, wannabe poets, and those who think they don’t “get” poetry are encouraged to attend this community celebration of the oldest written form.  Nancy Slavin, local writer and poet, will host the event, which also will include brief writing prompts for the launching of new poems.  Door prizes and copious applause will be given to those who read their new work at the Open Mic.   For more information, email Nancy at nancyslavin@mail.tillamookbay.cc or call the Bay City Arts Center at 503 377 9620.  The Arts Center is located on the corner of 5th and A Streets in Bay City.

Click here to register for the workshops.   Or, call 503.368.3846.

The events are a collaboration of the Hoffman Center’s Manzanita Writers’ Series and Bay City Arts Center.

Writers’ Series Features Patrick deWitt on March 16

PatrickdeWitt photoMainPatrick deWitt will read from his latest book, The Sisters Brothers, at the Hoffman Center at 7pm on Saturday, March 16, 2013.

Patrick deWitt was born on Vancouver Island in 1975. He has lived in California and Washington, and currently lives in Oregon. Author of two novels, Ablutions and The Sisters Brothers he also wrote the screenplay for the film Terri, a hit at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The Sisters Brothers has won numerous awards and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

With The Sisters Brothers, deWitt pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable comic tour de force. Filled with a remarkable cast of characters–losers, cheaters, and ne’er-do-wells from all stripes of life–and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent, lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that beautifully captures the humor, melancholy, and grit of the Old West and two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love.

By turns hilarious, graphic and meditative, The Sisters Brothers hooked me from page one all the way to 300 — and I could have stayed on for many more.” — NPR.org

“DeWitt has produced a genre-bending frontier saga that is exciting, funny, and, perhaps unexpectedly, moving.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review

Following deWitt’s reading and Q&A, we’ll have our popular Open Mic where up to nine local writers will read 5 minutes of their original work.

Admission for the evening is $7.

North Coast Squid Selections Announced

Squid 2013 CoverWe’re happy to announce the submissions selected for the second issue of the North Coast Squid.   Please be sure and come to the Manzanita Writers’ Series event this Saturday, February 16, at 7:00 p.m.  We’ll be celebrating the release of the publication.  Erica Bauermeister, fiction judge, will be reading from her new book, The Lost Art of Mixing.  Many of the writers will also be reading their work at the Open Mic.

Issues of the North Coast Squid will be available for sale at the event for $2 each.   We hope to see you there.

Fiction-Erica Bauermeister, Judge
Blindfolded, But Not Blind, Amy Pulitzer
Blue Wedding, Vera Wildauer
Her Shrunken Head, Christine Watt
Job Security, Tobi Nason
Local Beauty Secrets Revealed, Neal Lemery
Overheard Over Espresso, Andrew Barker
The Hitch, Tela Skinner
The Second Miracle, Tami Vincent
W1ZRB de W1ZTZ, Mark Smith
Warfare, Elia Seely

Non-fiction, Matt Love, Judge
Final Chapters, Tela Skinner
Stealing My Car, Will George
Surfing Lessons, Sydney Elliott
The Neighborhood Butcher Shop, Suzanne Jelineo
The Torn Fish, Phyllis Mannan
The Two-Headed Sheep, Debra Simmons
The Wisdom of the Waves, Tobi Nason
Transcontinental Communication, Vera Wildauer

Poetry, David Biespiel, Judge
Belonging, Bonnie Morrissey
Falling Away, Kimberly Hazel
How to Eat a D’Anjou Pear, Julius Jortner
Marty, Lori Dillon
Nor Can Hand Feel, Phyllis Mannan
Observations on Grace, Phyllis Mannan
To Be Strong and Swift, Cynthia Jacobi
So Long Underwater, Colette Jonopulos
Stay Tired, Alissa King
The Gods Know Better, Florence Sage
The Season of Gravity, James Dott
Tillamook Underground, John Fiedler
Lichen and Spirea While Driving, Nancy Beecher
Timing, Vera Wildauer
White Dress, John Ciminello

Inside Art, Selected by Editorial Committee
A Sailor’s Sorrow, Jason Karl
All Aboard, Paul Hughes
Be Free, Thomas Robinson
Booker in the Light, Lori E. Dillon
Dargah at New Dehli, India, Gary Seelig
Dune Jump, Thomas Robinson
Edgar A. Crow of Netarts works on poem about his cousin, Connie Vincent
Ensemble, M J Anderson
Four on the Beach, Christina Wilson
Misty Morn’, Paul Hughes
One from a collection, 33 Mussels, Liz Fischer Greenhill
Out of the Fog, Ellen Hamill
Riding on a Train, J. Woika
Shore Dance, Ellen Hamill
Some Will Return, Jason Karl
The Comb, Julius Jortner
Top of Neahkahnie, Lane deMoll
Untitled, Liz Fisher Greenhill

Cover, Selected by Editorial Committee
September Song, Doreen Lindstedt

 

 

 

2nd Annual North Coast Squid to be Released on February 16th

Squid 2013 CoverThe second annual North Coast Squid literary magazine will be released on Feb. 16 2013 at the Manzanita Writers’ Series event.

The Manzanita Writer’s Series coordinators are pleased to continue the collaboration with the North Coast Citizen to publish this second annual literary magazine.  The North Coast Squid showcases work of writers and artists who live on the north coast or have a strong connection to the area.

Over 60 writers submitted 138 pieces. Submissions were juried by authors outside our community. Erica Bauermeister, author of The School of Essential Ingredients, and Joy for Beginners, judged fiction entries.  Matt Love, author of Gimme Refuge: The Education of a Caretaker, and Sometimes a Great Movie: Paul Newman, Ken Kesey and the Filming of the Great Oregon Novel among others, judged nonfiction. David Biespiel, poet, poetry columnist for the Oregonian, and founder of the Attic Institute in Portland, judged poetry.

Many of the writers whose work was selected will be at the Writers’ Series event to read selections at the Open Mic after our featured author’s reading.

The North Coast Squid will be available for purchase at every Manzanita Writers’ Series event as well as at a number of retail outlets along the coast. Fifty percent of the $2 cover price will go to the Hoffman Center to help with operational costs that provide programs like the Manzanita Writers’ Series.

There will be other events to kick off the new release in coastal communities from Astoria to Pacific City. Watch for announcements on hoffmanblog.org.

Manzanita Writers’ Series Features Erica Bauermeister on February 16th

Erica BauermeisterErica Bauermeister will read from her latest book, The Lost Art of Mixing, at the Hoffman Center on Saturday, February 16, 2013.   A Seattle-based author, Bauermeister has published two non-fiction books and three novels.

Frustrated by the lack of women authors in her university curriculum, she co-authored 500 Great Books by Women: A Reader’s Guide with Holly Smith and Jesse Larsen and Let’s Hear It For the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14 with Holly Smith. In the process Erica read, literally, thousands of books, good and bad, probably one of the best educations a writer can have.

Turning later to fiction, the first result was The School of Essential Ingredients. It’s about food and people and the relationships between them – about taking those “unimportant” bits of life and making them beautiful. The response to School has been a writer’s dream; the book has been published in 23 countries.  Her second book, Joy for Beginners, is a book club favorite.

The Lost Art of Mixing is her latest, published in January, 2013, and continues the stories begun in her first novel. A Booklist review describes the book as  “Warm, funny, and deeply comforting, The Lost Art of Mixing is a delight.”

Following Bauermeister’s reading and Q&A, we’ll have our popular Open Mic where up to nine local writers will read 5 minutes of their original work.

Admission for the evening is $7.

 

Poets and Poetry Lovers: Save the Date April 6-7

stephanielenoxPoets & those who love poetry: Save the Date. Beach and Bay Poetry Weekend, April 6 & 7, 2013.

In honor of National Poetry Month, the Manzanita Writers’ Series and Bay City Arts Center present a weekend dedicated to the joys of poetry. Beach and Bay Poetry Weekend will take place April 6 and 7, 2013.

Two workshops and a public poetry reading will take place at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita on Saturday, April 6. In the morning from 10 am to noon poet Stephanie Lenox will present “Other Shoes,” a workshop to help you learn to embody the voices of your characters. This workshop is for poets of all levels, as well as fiction writers interested in developing authentic characters through poetic experimentation. From 1 pm to 3 pm poet John Morrison will present the workshop “Re-Vision,” geared to the practicing poet. Learn how to take a shimmering first draft, or a cranky problem child, to a deeper level. Cost is $30 per workshop or $50 for both.John Morrison hat bw

At 3:30, Stephanie Lenox and John Morrison will read from their own poetry, followed by a Community Open Mic. The event is free to workshop participants and $7 to non-workshop attendees.

On Sunday, April 7 at the Bay City Arts Center savor a “Scrumptious lunch, open mic, and poem launch” moderated by Nancy Slavin.  Enjoy a light lunch at noon followed at 1:30 with poetry prompts to launch new poems and an open mic opportunity to read the new work. Event will include door prizes, laughter, and poetry appreciation. Lunch is by donation and the open mic is free.

Click here to register for the workshops.  Or, call 503.368.3846 to leave a message. For information about Sunday events, call 503.812.4800.

The event is a collaboration of the Hoffman Center’s Manzanita Writers’ Series and Bay City Arts Center.